


Always Been Betty

by mythicalowlsociety



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Angst, Childhood Friends, F/M, Fluff, Getting Together, Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-10
Updated: 2017-03-10
Packaged: 2018-09-29 22:10:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,676
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10145597
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mythicalowlsociety/pseuds/mythicalowlsociety
Summary: Jughead has been in love with Betty forever.





	

**Author's Note:**

> My grammar is going to be terrible. Sorry guys. Also this is trash. Don't look at me.

Jughead had been in love with Betty forever. 

Okay not necessarily always, there were significant chunks of time when he only considered the blonde his friend, but Jughead was only five years old when he fell in love with Betty. Loved the way she would help him with his homework, never let a single kid feel like they were picked last, and how her smile could light up the room. Jughead loved pretending to be annoyed when Betty was scared of the dark. He would make a big show of letting her hold his hand even though he secretly wanted to. 

Betty was the first girl, even before his baby sister Jellybean, to be allowed in his tree house.

When Betty was eight she got a "bad mark" on a math test, 75% in the Cooper house was blasphemous, and was terrified of what her parents were going to do with her when they found out. Betty decided she needed to run away and Jughead was more than happy to let her stay in his tree house. 

They thought they could get away with it. 

When Polly ran away as a kid she had the neighborhood on a search patrol within an hour. But the day Betty ran away the hours rolled on and there were no police or reporters calling out. Figures, Mr. and Mrs. Cooper were too infatuated with Polly to pay Betty any attention.  
Jughead got the sleeping-bag out from the garage and smuggled a bunch of snacks into the tree house. They built a blanket fort, ate dunk-a-roos, and played (or rather Jughead played and Betty watched) Nintendo GameBoy for hours. It was perfect. 

Until Betty's mom found her at supper time. 

Jughead watched in horror as Mrs. Cooper yanked a petrified Betty out of his tree house and down the street, the mother clutching at her daughter's arm so tightly it must have left a bruise. Jughead was scared that they would hurt Betty but didn't know what to do so that night he grabbed a bunch of pebbles and tip toed into the Cooper's yard. Trying something he had only seen in movies at the Twilight, Jughead started hurling pebbles at Betty's window to get her attention. Jughead ended up cracking her window pane, which definitely got her attention to say the least.

Yep things were great between Betty and Jughead. Always had been and it felt like it always would be. 

But then there was Archie. The three of them had close since the first day of school. And despite how he thought of Archie as his best friend growing up, Jughead always felt a little closer to his female companion. Betty just understood things that Archie didn't; like books and films and not fitting in with the other kids.

But by third grade Betty was already in love with the redhead.

So Jughead watched the two grow closer and bottled his envy away. Cause Archie and Betty were his best friends and he couldn't afford to lose both of them. But they started to drift apart anyway.

The problems between the Andrews and Jones households seemed to slowly tear them away from each other and Betty of course was closer to Archie than Jughead. Jughead’s own problems had him in his head. Had him closed off from the world.  
He lost his friends.  
His father.  
And eventually his mom and Jellybean left him too. 

Betty started to gain weight in sixth grade. Kids made fun of her and Jughead swallowed the want to bash in their faces. But being a kid named “Jughead” ment he had his own problems. So Archie, as always, was the hero. 

And then Kevin came along, the kid who was much more open to talking about feelings than Jughead was. So by Gr. 8 Jughead found he wasn’t talking to any of his friends.

Which of course was when he started to like Betty all over again. They had a biology project together and in between two week's worth of lab reports and experiments; Jughead and Betty got to watch old movies. Casablanca, North by Northwest, Maltese Falcon, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, True Grit, Citizen Kane, and Rebel Without a Cause. All the best ones.  
They talked about old times and new times.  
Even if Betty was a bit bigger, Jughead couldn’t believe anyone would be stupid enough not fall in love with her. Her giggles, how she tightened her ponytail when things got difficult, or how she never let anyone see her cry. She was beautiful. Smart. Funny. Kind. More than anyone could ever ask for. More than anyone ever could deserve.  
He was getting addicted to Betty Cooper and fast.  
Everyday for a week after the completion of the biology report Jughead found himself at the door of the Cooper house. Betty would invite him in, they’d do homework together at the table under the terrifying eye of Alice Cooper, and then watch a movie. It was nice. They didn’t always talk but the silence was comfortable.  
Then one, halfway in between Sunset Boulevard, Archie showed up at the Cooper house. He wanted to know if Betty would come with him to Pops. Jughead noticed how Betty’s eyes lit up like fireworks when the ginger jock entered and it made him grit his teeth. Before Betty could even answer, Jughead stormed out.  
“Juggie?” Betty called after him.  
“Prince Charming is here, what do you need me here for?” He yelled as he slammed the front door shut. 

So they didn’t exactly talk until after Jason.  
Until the Blue and Gold got jump started again and Betty wanted his help investigating.  
Jughead didn’t want to write for the Blue and Gold, he’d rather just slip into the background and write his book from the sidelines. Asking questions and poking around could put him in the front of Riverdale’s darkest mystery. Could put him in danger and most definitely would eliminate Jughead’s subjective view of the murder. But then Betty was looking at him with those baby blue eyes. She called him “Juggy” again like when they were kids and Jughead almost melted on the spot. 

Then it was only a matter of time for the feeling, the emotions that had always been there, to come back at full capacity. It was Betty as beautiful as ever, who still tightened her pert blond ponytail before going off to battle, and could make Jughead feel so wanted.  
The feelings spread like some kind of poison in his veins. Images of her smile haunted his dreams. The want to entwine their fingers and hold her close. 

And she was his. For a moment.  
He had come up to her window, doing the romantic cliches he never seemed to pull off with Betty Cooper and her bedroom window. Jughead had even managed to come up with the Romeo and Juliet reference on his way up the ladder. But once he was there he felt almost light headed almost as if he had climbed up a mountain instead of up to the second floor of the Cooper house. He felt shaky but he could put that aside when he saw the soft broken look in Betty’s eyes. Betty was acting like this wasn’t a big deal.  
“They’re crazy. My parents are crazy!” Betty exclaimed like she was frustrated with the lack rom-coms on Netflix instead of realizing her parents had mental issues.  
“They’re parent’s. They’re all Crazy.”  
“But what if Polly is too. I mean the way she was talking to me. The way she looked at me.” Betty trying to be strong. Not wanting to be vulnerable. But her eyes told a different story. “And now all I can think is maybe I’m crazy like they are.”  
“Hey, We’re all crazy.” Jughead said laying a hand on her shoulder. He couldn’t stand it. He wouldn’t let Betty feel like this. “We’re not our parents, Betty. We are not our families.”  
The way her shoulder relaxed under his hand made his heart flutter.  
Looking at her, so soft in front of him made Jughead feel exposed in a way he never felt with anyone. “Also-” he began but choked on the words.  
God dammit! Jughead thought as he swallowed nervously. He was supposed to be the man of words. Tell her you like her, you dolt!  
“What?” Betty asked. There was something so self conscious in her eyes like she was scarred he was going to push away from her. She hid it behind a shaky smile but he could see it. Scared he’d call her fat. Scared he’d call her crazy.  
And it made him snap. He pushed forward to kiss her, his breath catching in his throat. Her lips were soft and gentle against his. He wanted to show her care but also just to breath her for a moment. His hand gently placed on her neck with his thumb on her cheek. She had reached her hand on his shoulder. The kiss lasted a second. Long enough for Jughead to memorize the feeling of her lips and wonder if his heart was going to burst. The pulled apart for air but kept their noses touching. He could feel her jaw move into a smile as his eyes opened again.  
Finally-  
Her head jerked.  
“The car!” She exclaimed. Betty Cooper was back. 

So they hadn’t exactly talked about the kiss… But it didn’t matter. He would do whatever Betty wanted. Always.  
He could take the odd looks Archie and Veronica gave him when he would comfort Betty. The way Betty leaned into his touch was worth it. He felt as if he was betraying Archie for taking his girl. However it wasn’t exactly going to stop Jughead from walking Betty home or lacing their fingers together. 

He wasn’t sure what was coming, and there was storm in Riverdale, but it wouldn’t matter. Because when Betty Cooper kissed him he felt like he could do anything.  
Cause Jughead Jones has always been in love with Betty Cooper


End file.
